There was a collection of dumpsters, all full of garbage, lined up in the alley. The smell out there was something between rotten meat and piss.
Jerry whipped out his pen light and I held it for him while he worked the lock. He had also brought a small gym bag, which he laid near his feet.
‘They think puttin’ a metal door up is gonna keep people out,’ he said, while he worked, ‘but they forget that a lock is a lock.’
He continued to work while I looked up and down the alley, trying to hold the light still.
‘Got it,’ he finally said, and we were inside.
We found a back stairway and took it to the second floor. By the beam of his pen light we found the door of unit 220. He handed me the light again, put his bag down and took out a hammer.
‘Why not a hacksaw?’ I asked.
‘That would take longer. But if this doesn’t work I brought one.’
‘What if there’s a watchman downstairs?’ I whispered.
‘I’m gonna try and open it with one shot,’ he said. ‘If a watchman comes up I’ll take care of him.’
‘Don’t kill him,’ I said.
‘Naw, Mr G.,’ he said, ‘don’t worry. Just stand back.’
I backed away a few steps. Jerry brought the hammer back, then hit the lock with one solid whack. . and it snapped open.
We both froze, waited to see if anyone would come up the steps looking to see what the noise was.
‘I think we’re OK,’ I said.
He put the hammer away in the bag. The door was metal, on hinges. He removed the snapped lock, then slowly, quietly swung the door open.
SIXTY-NINE
There was a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. I grabbed the short chain and yanked it, and the light came on.
File cabinets along one wall, the back, and down the other.
‘Sonofabitch,’ I said. ‘I’ll bet I know what’s in these.’
He started at one end, me at the other, and all we found were nude photos of young girls.
‘Goddamn,’ I said, ‘I wish I had a can of gasoline.’
‘I know what ya mean.’
‘Wait,’ I said, closing the drawer of the cabinet I’d been looking through. I turned, went through another two cabinets until I found a drawer with ‘D’ names in them. Sure enough, I found what I was looking for.
‘Sonofabitch!’ I swore again. ‘If Irwin was here right now I’d strangle him.’ I was holding a whole sheaf of Abby Dalton photos.
‘I guess I didn’t scare him enough,’ Jerry said, and he seemed genuinely disappointed with himself. ‘I knew I shoulda broke somethin’.’
‘Well, next time I’ll hold him and you break his damn neck,’ I said.
‘So what do we do now?’ Jerry asked. ‘Wait for him to come back? Because he ain’t gonna leave town without these photos. I’ll bet he’s got some other ones in there he wants as bad as those of Miss Dalton.’
‘If we stake this place out it could take days, or weeks for him to show up,’ I said. ‘We don’t have that much time.’
‘What, then?’
I looked around.
‘I suggest we go through the rest of these cabinets and see what we find,’ I said. ‘Maybe there’s somethin’ here that’ll help us.’
‘OK, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘But. .’
‘What?’ I said, detecting something in his tone.
‘I just hope we don’t find nothin’ else that might make you wanna burn the whole buildin’ down.’
I looked at the photos of Abby I was holding in my hands, and wondered what that would be.
As it turned out, the cabinets along the back wall — only three of them — held something quite different from the photos in all the others.
One cabinet had a drawer that was filled with financial reports, bills, tax records. The other two drawers were empty.
The second cabinet had one empty drawer, and two that seemed to be holding all sorts of personal records and papers that I really didn’t want to go through. I already felt like I had to steam my hands clean when we got out of there.
The third cabinet was the emptiest. The top drawer was completely bare, the second held only one folder.
‘What’s that?’ Jerry asked.
I took it out, opened it, knew exactly what it was right away.
‘It’s a floor plan,’ I said.
‘Of what?’ Jerry asked.
‘Harrah’s, in Lake Tahoe.’ That sonofabitch, I thought.
There was one more drawer to search, at the bottom. Jerry opened it while I was still staring at the floor plan, realizing the implications. It even included a drawing of the parking lots.
‘Mr G.?’
‘Yeah?’
‘You better have a look.’
‘What?’
I bent down and saw what he meant. There were some reels of film in the drawer. I took one out, and unfurled a length of it, holding it up to the light.
‘Jesus,’ I said, ‘this opens up a whole new can of worms, Jerry.’
‘Stag films?’
I nodded. We took another roll and had a look. Same thing. Men and women doing things to each other you should do at home, or in a hotel, or in a closet, but not on film.
‘These look like good quality, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘Maybe pro.’
‘There’s a lot more to Irwin than meets the eye, Jerry,’ I said. I held a roll of film in one hand, and the Harrah’s floor plan in the other. ‘We been had, Jerry.’ I waved the floor plan folder at him. ‘Looks like Irwin was not only involved with the kidnapping. He may have planned the whole thing.’
SEVENTY
Barney Irwin was a kidnapper, and a producer of stag films. I wondered how many young girls who came to him for portraits ended up on film with their clothes off?
‘What do we do?’ Jerry asked.
‘There’s a lot of stuff here, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I doubt he’d want to leave it behind. In fact, I doubt that he’s even leavin’ town.’
‘He ain’t as scared, or as stupid, as we thought,’ Jerry said.
‘No, he’s still stupid. Or else why leave this stuff lyin’ around?’
‘It ain’t lyin’ around,’ Jerry said. ‘It’s under lock and key.’
‘Still,’ I said, ‘this kidnap stuff, and the note I found in his desk drawer. . not smart.’
‘OK,’ Jerry said, ‘but he’s tougher than we thought. He tried to have us both killed, tried to set us up again in that warehouse.’
‘He’s still in town,’ I said. ‘Maybe the Rienzas know where.’
‘How do we find out?’
‘We ask ’em.’
‘I hope that don’t mean goin’ to a police station?’ Jerry said.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I’ll just call Hargrove. Come on, let’s lock up and get out of here.’
The combination lock wouldn’t close again, but we managed to hang it on the door so it looked locked. Only Irwin, when he came to get inside, would know.
As we went down the back stairs I said, ‘We’re gonna need somebody to sit on this place and watch for Irwin to come back.’
‘Not me.’
‘No,’ I said, ‘I’ll ask Danny to find somebody.’
We took the kidnap folder and a roll of film with us. I put them in the back seat while Jerry got behind the wheel.
‘Where to?’ he asked.
‘Phone.’
‘Pay phone?’
I thought a moment, then said, ‘My house.’
‘Is that smart? I mean, what if Irwin sends somebody after us again?’
‘You’ll take care of ’em.’
‘As long as there’s not more than three.’
When we walked into my house Jerry got a beer from the frig while I called Danny.
‘Yeah, I got a guy who can sit on the place,’ he said, after I told him everything we found. ‘Stag films, huh? I hate those things. Most of the girls look strung out on somethin’.’
‘For all we know Irwin’s dealin’ in drugs, too. The guy’s real good at playin’ dumb.’
‘Well, maybe he’s a pro when it comes to fuck films and drugs, but he’s still an amateur when it comes to kidnapping.’
‘Ain’t that the truth. Listen, give your guy all my numbers and have him call as soon as he sees Irwin.’
‘I’ll have him tail him, and then call.’
‘OK. Thanks, Danny.’